Universe expansion may be slowing, not accelerating, study suggests
17 days ago
- #dark-energy
- #cosmology
- #universe-expansion
- Astronomers challenge the Nobel prize-winning theory that the universe's expansion is accelerating, suggesting it may be slowing down.
- This could imply the universe might eventually enter a 'big crunch' scenario, reversing the big bang.
- Dark energy, thought to drive the universe's expansion, may be weakening over time.
- The study indicates the universe has entered a phase of decelerated expansion, marking a potential paradigm shift in cosmology.
- Findings are based on reassessing observations of distant supernovae, which were previously used to discover dark energy.
- The new analysis suggests variations in early universe stars mean they produce fainter supernovae, correcting for this bias shows slower expansion.
- If dark energy continues to decrease and becomes negative, the universe could end in a big crunch.
- The findings, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, are provocative but require further confirmation.